Driver, three others hurt when car hits New Milford restaurant

NEW MILFORD - An accident at a Kent Road diner Sunday morning was the result of a passenger hitting the gas instead of the brakes while attempting to stop a car from rolling into the restaurant, police said.

The 2007 Mercedez Benz sedan shattered the entrance to the Gaylordsville Diner, pentrating several feet into the restaurant and injuring four people, including the driver, who had gone back inside, police said.

The four were identified as Louis Funk, 70, Angel Cintron, 65, Ruth Cintron, 66, and Lyman H. Bergemann Jr., 76. All were taken to area hospitals after the 10:15 a.m. crash with what Gaylordsville Fire Chief Karl Fuchs said were “non-life-threatening injuries.”
Police said Funk and his wife, Marie, also 70, had gone back to their car after eating breakfast when Louis Funk went back into the restaurant, leaving the car running.

The vehicle began moving forward, and Marie Funk attempted to apply the brake, but hit the gas instead, police said.

Bergemann was taken by ambulance to Danbury Hospital by Sherman Ambulance. The other three victims were taken to New Milford Hospital, police said.

The acccident remains under investigation by the police department’s Accident Reconstruction Team, and anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Nicholas Smith at 860-355-3133.

NEW MILFORD — Four people were injured when a car apparently left running in the parking lot crashed through the front window of a Kent Road restaurant Sunday morning.

One of the injured parties was the driver of the white Mercedes sedan that plowed into the Gaylordsville Diner in the George Washington Plaza about 10:15 a.m., Gaylordsville Fire Chief Karl Fuchs said.

The driver was in the restaurant at the time. A passenger in the vehicle was not hurt, and none of the injuries were considered life-threatening, Fuchs said.

Police taped off a large section of the parking lot in front of the restaurant as they investigated the crash. The car, which had Florida plates, remained on the sidewalk in front of the shattered entrance.